Douglass National Bank dates its origins to the 1940s when a group of businessmen had a vision and formulated a plan to open the first minority-owned bank in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area.
Henry W. Sewing founded the bank with a commitment to provide banking services to people of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds and especially to those whose needs were not being met by other established banks at the time.
The bank opened in 1947. The original Douglass State Bank, located on Fifth Street in Kansas City, Kan., was named after Frederick Douglass, the famed 19th century abolitionist and orator. In 1994, Douglass purchased a branch of Franklin Federal Savings located at 4655 State Avenue in Kansas City, Kan. In 1996, Douglass converted a loan production office in Kansas City, Mo., into a full service bank, near 63rd and Paseo. In 2001, Douglass relocated its mid-town Kansas bank to a new facility at 48th and State Avenue.
